Search or head light.



F. J. HEIBERGER, JR. & M. C.'STUART.

SEARCH 0R HEAD LIGHT. APPLICATION FILED SEPT 20. I915.

, Patented June 13, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

EFiilfT: I/VVEA/TORS FkZ'f/eiber er, i7:

Maryarei .Stuari BY I V v F. J. HEIBERGER, JR. & M. C. STUART.

SEARCH 0R HEAD LIGHT. APPLICATION FILED sEPT.20, 1915.

1,187,313; Patented 11111613, 1916.

4 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- i L 22 j INVENTORS E'Jfiezhry r;

Margaret C'luari para eras a. r a i,

FRANZ J. HEIBERGER, JR., 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND MARGARET CARTERSTUART, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

SEARCH on HEAD LIGHT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patgnted June 13 1916,

Application filed September 20, 1915. Serial No. 51,629.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANZ J. HEIBER- one. Jr.. of the city of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, and

MARGARET CARTER STUART, of Richmond, in

the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Search or Head Lights, of which the followingis a specification.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful improvements insearchlights or headlights of the kind particularly employed onautomobiles and roadv vehicles to illuminate the pathahead. These lamps,

which are usually of the acetylene type or of the electric type, givesuch a powerful beam that the glare is blinding to pedestrians or othersgetting in the range of the vention has for its principal object theprovision of an electro-magnetic reciprocating motor of the solenoidtype for operating the shields in lieu of the rotary electric motoremployed in the construction disclosed in the second of our patentsaforesaid.

Practice has demonstrated that unless the rotary electric motors of thetwo headlights usually employed on automobiles are properly synchronizedand means provided in the electric circuit for insuring a uniformaction, one or the other of the headlight shields is projected to agreater or less extent than the other, with the result that the lightbeam is not uniformly cut off at both headlights.

It is therefore one of the objects of our invention to provide aconstruction in which this objectionablefeature is eliminated and inwhich the expense of construction is materially less than in theformishown in our Patent No. 1,149,441, aforesaid.

With other objects in view that will be clear to those skilled in theart, the invention also includes those novel details'of construction,combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fullyde scribed, then be specifically pointed out in the appended claims, andillustrated in the.

accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation and partsection of a headlight of the electric type with the invention applied,showing the parts in the normal position. Fig. 2 is a view simi-. lar toFig. 3, illustrating the position of the parts in the first movement?when the electromagnet is energized to release the shield. Fig. 3 isaview similar to Fig. 2 showing the position of theparts after theshield moving lever has been unlatched and'moved to engage the stop onthe connecting link with the solenoid plunger. Fig. 4 is a view similarto Figs. 1 and 2, showing the position of the parts when the shield isfully projected. Fig. 5 is a view similar to the preceding figures,illustrating the position 7 of the partswhen the shield hasbeen restoredand just prior'to the deenergization of the operating magnet. Fig. 6 isa detail cross section on the line 66-of Fig. 1. Fig.

- 7 is a detail perspective view ofa portion of the solenoid plunger,the connecting link and the latch operating lever. Fig. 8'is a viewsimilar to Fig. 1, of a modification of the invention, with the parts inthe normal position in full lines with the shield let down in dottedlines. Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, showing-the position of theparts when the magnet is energized to restore the shield to its normalor retracted position. a

Referring now .to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals ofreference indicate like parts in all of the figures, 1 designates theheadlight which may be of any ordinary type. a i

2' designates the casing in which our present invention is located, thecasing 2 being formed with an annular portion 3 'to' fit over the dooropening of the headlight 1 and serve as a door, if desired, in the man:ner illustrated in our patents aforesaid. The casing 2 is provided withan enlarged top section 4 in which the shield 20 is located. Forconvenience of illustration, we

' have disclosed the shield as formed of a derstood that it may becomposed of several spherical segments in the manner disclosed in ourpatents aforesaid, if. found desirable.

designates the magnet housing which forms a continuation of the casing 2and in which the operating parts are located.

7 designates aniron yoke which is secured to brackets 6, (preferably ofbrass or non-magnetic material), the brackets 6 carrying a metallic coresleeve 8 of non-mag. netic material in which the iron plunger 12 isreciprocable. i

9 is'the solenoid winding which is suitably insulated from the brackets6 and the sleeve 8 and fromwhich the conductor wires 38 lead to theconnector 39 by means of which the circuit wires from the energizingsystem (not shown) are connected with the magnet.-

10 is a regulating screw which is chambered to receive a butler spring1-1 that also functions to hold the plunger 12 when the magnet isdeenergized in its normal position shown in Fig. 1.

13 is an extension of the plunger 12, which extension is preferably ofnon-magnetic material, such as brass, and which carries the stud 14 onwhich the connecting link 15 is pivoted. The link 15 has a stud 16 thatis provided with two annular portions 17-18 of different diameters, theportion 18 00 operating with the recess 28 of the operating lever 26 ina manner hereinafter made clear, while the portion 17 receives and formsa bearing for the latch releasing lever 32.

19 is. a stud bolt which serves as the principal fulcrum at one side ofthe lamp, for the shade segment 20, (it being understood, of course,that a second stud bolt 19 is at the other side of the lamp in alinementwith the bolt 19, shown in-Fig. 1). The shade segment 20 is fitted onthe bolt 19 and the bolt 19 also passes through the aperture 27 in theoperating lever 26 and forms the point of fulcrum of such operatinglever,the lever .26 being extended rearwardly and secured at 25 to afixture 24- that is fastened in any suitable way to the closure flange21 of the shade segment 20. The shade segment 20 is provided with asemi-transparent body 22 so that the entire light may not be out 0d butonly dimmed where the shade intersects the projected beam. The body 22may be of ground material, a more or less opaque substance, or a coloredmaterial, if found desirable. The shade segment 20 is projected from itsnormal position shown in Fig. 1 to its cutting off position shown inFig.4, by a coil spring 23, best shown in Figs. 1, and 6 of thedrawings, and is heldagainst projection by a latch 31 whose nose 30engages a recess 29 in the end of the operating lever 26. The latch 31is carried on a spring? arm 41 that is fastened to the magnet yoke andmeters it is designed to be engaged by the nose of the releasing lever32 when the parts are in the normal position shown in Fig. 1. The lever32 is provided with an L-slot 34, through which the fulcrum bolt 19passes, and it also has a heel 35 that is adapted to engage the shoulder40 of the fixture 24 at times for a purpose later explained.

36 is a stiff spring member on the releasing lever 32 which is adaptedto engage a similar spring 37 that is suitably secured to the brackets 6when the parts are .in the position shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5 of thedrawings.

From the foregoing description, itwill be seen that the manner in whichthe invention operates is as follows: Assume the parts to be in thenormal position, as shown in Fig. 1, the operator desiring to lower theshield, closes the electric circuit and energizes the solenoid 9,thereby drawing down the core 12, and in consequence moving the latchreleasing lever 32 downwardly to push the latch 31 back and release thelever 26. The lever 32, at this time, is fulcrumed at the upper nd ofthe L-slot 34 on the fulcrum 19, that end being held down by the weight33 of the lever 32. By the time the parts have moved to the positionshown in Fig. 2, the latch 31 will have been pushed war to release theshield operating lever 26 whereupon the spring 23 will tend to move theshield 21 outwardly, this moving, however, being restrained by theengagement of the part 18 of the stud 16 with the lever 26 in the recess28, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. As the core 12 is drawn inwardlyto its fullest extent, the springs 36 and 37 will act to raise the lever32 to bring the lower end of the L-slot 34 against the fulcrum 19, asshown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and as soon as the magnet 9 isdeenergized the spring 23 will force the shield 20 outwardly to theposition shown in Fig. 4 and raise the core 12 to its highest position.At this time, the part 18 of the stud 16 will lie in the recess 28 andthe levers 32 and 26 will be substantially parallel.

To restore the shield 20 to the closed position, the magnet 9 is againenergized, whereupon 'the parts move from the position shown in Fig. 4to the position shown in Fig. 5. By reason of the fact that the'lever 32is withdrawn, so as not to project beyond the end of the lever 26, itwill, at this time, have no effect on the latch 31 and when the end ofthe lever26 passes beneath the nose 30 of the latch, the nose 30 willspring into the latching notch 29 of the lever 26, as shown in Fig. 5,and latch the shield again. As soon as the magnet 9 is dei nergizcd thespring 11 will raise the core 12 back to-the position shown in Fig. 1,which permits the part 18 of the stud 16 -to pass out of the recess 28and allows the weight 33 to lower the pi o l end. of the lever 32 untilthe fulcrum 19 lies in the upper part of the L-slot 34 again, and the.parts are restored to the position shown in Fig. 1.

Should the latch 31 not yield readily when the parts move from theposition shown in Fig. 1, and have a tendency to push the lever 32 tothe left of Fig. 1, which would tend to cause the L-slot 34 to receivethe fulcrum 19 at its lowermost part, the heel 35 will engage theshoulder 40 and prevent sufli'cient movement in this way to withdraw thelever 32 from an operative position.

While we have shown the invention as applied to a single segment shield,it is understood that the shield may be made of a multiplicity ofsegments constructed and cooperatively arranged with relation to eachother, as disclosed in our patents aforesaid, and we do not desire to beunderstood as being limited in this case to the use of any particularnumber of shield segments. The spring 11 not only functions to hold thecore 12 in the normal position but also acts as a buffer to preventnoisesome impact between the core 12 and the adjusting screw 10'.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the lever 26 is directlyengaged by the lug 14= on the core 12 of the solenoid 9 to retract theshield and permit the latch 30? to engage the heel of thelever 26 whenthe parts are in the normal position, the spring 11 serving tocontinuously push the core 12 into engagement with the socket 7 of theframe 7 that supports the releasing magnet 9". In this form, thereleasing magnet is operated by closing an automatic circuit to releasethe latch 30 to permit the shield 20 to drop while the magnet 9 servessolely to restore the parts to the normal position.

it is believed the complete construction, operation and advantages ofour invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

What we claim is:

1. In .a ;lamp construction, a lamp body, a shieldpivoted at the frontof said body, means-for projecting said shield, a latch for holdingsaidshield retracted, a latch releasing'member, and an electro-magnet foractuating said releasing member.

2. In a lamp construction, a lamp'body, a

shield pivoted at the front of said body,

means for projecting said shield, a latch for holding saidshieldretracted, a latch releasing member, an electro-magnet for actuating n bn sa1d releasing member, and cooperative con-- n'ections between saidelectro-magnet and said shield for restoring said shield to itsretracted position.

3. In a lamp construction, a lamp body, a

shield pivoted at the front of said body,

means for projecting said'shield, a latch for holding said shieldretracted, a latch releasing element, a solenoid, a plunger operated bysaid solenoid, and an operating connection between said plunger and saidlatch re-' element, and a shield operating lever 00- operative with saidlatch and with said plunger, substantially as shown and for the purposesdescribed.

5. The combination in a head or search lamp, of a shield mounted tobe'moved into and out of the beam of light, means for moving said shieldin one direction, means for holding said shield against such movement,and mechanism for first releasing sa1d holding means to permit saidmoving means to act and for subsequently moving said shleld in theoppsite direction to restore the same.

6. The combination in a head or. search light, of a shield'mounted to bemoved into and out of the beam of light, means for moving said shield inone direction, means for holding said shield against such movement,

mechanism for first releasing said holding means to permit said movingmeans to act and for subsequently moving said shield in the oppositedirection to restore the same, said mechanism including a releasingelement, a'

shield operating lever, anv electro-magnet, and a member movable underthe influence of said magnet forcoperating said releasing element andoperatively engaging said operating lever.

7. The combination in a head or search light, of a shield mounted to bemoved into and out of the beam'of light, means'for moving said shield inone direction, means for holding. said shield against such movement,mechanism for first releasing said holding means to permit said movingmeans to act and for subsequently moving said shield in the oppositedirection to restorethe same, said mechanism including a releasingelement, a shield, operating lever, a solenoid, a plunger movable underthe influence of the solenoid, a connection between said plunger andsaid releasing element, said connection having provision for engagingsaid shield operating lever to restore the shield.

8. In a lamp construction, a lamp body, a shield pivoted 'at the frontof said body, a shield operating lever carried by the shield, a springfor projecting said shield, a latch engaging sa1d operating lever tohold said shield retracted, a pivoted latch releasing lever, a solenoid,a plunger'for said solenoid, a link connecting said plunger with saidlatch releasing lever and means cooperative with said latch releasinglever for shifting its fulcrum to move said latch releasing lever out ofa latch engaging position after said latch has been released, said linkadapted to engage said operating lever to restore said shield upon asecond energization of said solenoid;

9. In a lamp construction, a lamp body,- a shield pivotally mounted onsaid body, a shield operating lever, a pivot bolt on which said shieldis pivotally mounted, a latch for engaging said shield operating leverto hold said shield retracted, aspring for proj ecting said shield, alatch releasing lever having an lL-slot mounted on said pivot bolt tonormally engage said latch, a solenoid, a plunger, a link connectingsaid plunger with said latch releasing lever, means holding said plungerin a normal position of elevation,

and means for moving said latch releasing lever on said pivot bolt attimes to change its fulcrum and thereby move said latch releas-.

ing lever to an inoperative position, said shield operating lever-havingprovision for operative connection with said plunger to restore saidshield.

10. In a lamp construction, a lamp body,

a shield, means for pivotally mounting said shield on said body, saidmeans including a pivot bolt, an operating lever pivoted on said boltand connected with said shield, said operating lever having a recess anda latching notch, a latch having a nose to engage said notch, a latchreleasing lever shiftably pivotally mounted on said pivot bolt, asolenoid, a plunger, a connection between said plunger and said latchreleasing lever, means for normally hdlding said latch releasing leverin position to engage said latch, and means for shifting the fulcrum ofsaid latch releasing lever out of an engaging position after said latchhas been released, said connection between said plunger and said meterslatch releasing lever including a member to engage said operating leverin its recess to retract said shield.

11, In a lamp construction, a lamp body, a shield, means for pivotallymounting said shield on said body, said means including a pivot bolt, anoperating lever pivoted on said bolt and connected with said shield,said optween said plunger and said latch releasing lever including amember to engage said operating lever in its recess to retract saidshield, and means for restoring said operatin lever to its initialfulcrum after said latch has engaged said shield operating lever andsaid plunger has been elevated to the normal position.

12. In a lamp construction, a lamp body, a shield pivoted to said body,means for projecting said shield, a latch for holding said shieldretracted, a latch releasing mechanism and an electromagnetic mechanismfor restoring the shield to its normal position.

13. In a lamp construction, a lamp body, a shield pivoted to said body,means for projecting said shield, a lever movable with said shield, alatch to engage said lever to hold the shield retracted, anelectro-magnetic device for releasing said latch, and electro-magneticmeans for engaging said lever to retract the shield and relatch thesame.

FRANZ J. HEIBERGER, JR. MARGARET CARTER STUART.

